Detection of temporal interpolation in video sequences

Nowadays, considering the availability of relatively cheap devices and powerful editing software, video tampering is a relatively easy task. Video sequences can be tampered with by performing, e.g., temporal splicing. However, if the sequences spliced together do not share the same frame rate, they have to be temporally interpolated beforehand. This operation is often made using motion compensated interpolators, which allow to minimize visual artifacts. In this paper we propose a detector of this kind of interpolation. Moreover, the detector is capable of identifying the interpolation factor used, allowing an analyst to uncover the original frame rate of a sequence. This method relies on the analysis of the correlation introduced by the filter adopted by the interpolator. Results show that detection is successful, provided that the number of observed interpolated frames is large enough. Moreover, tests on compressed sequences obtained from television broadcasts validate the method in a real world scenario.